ANN Media Reports Archive
by LogicalPremise
Summary: As proposed by AlsoKnownAsMatt, this is a collection of full interviews conducted by Emily Wong with various in-story characters as events move along. Storyline and Emily doing some investigative reporting between interviews. Part of the Of Sheep and Battlechicken Premiseverse, so watch out for hard language and violence at times.
1. Shepard

**A/N:** _Turns out one of my readers, **AlsoKnownAsMatt**, wanted to see the Emily Wong interview._

_Gave me an idea. I'll be doing a series of the ANN interviews throughout the works, mostly with Emily Wong, as a kind of side piece where they don't fit into the main story._

_These will be different than the Westerlund News transcripts in the main story in that they are actually stories, not merely textual descriptions._

* * *

_DOWNLOADING: Data feed, prime broadcast segment 493_

_Direct recording dump 996-tertiary omega, classified rating [ALPHA]_

_This is an official Systems Alliance data capture dump, replication or rebroadcast is restricted._

_Recording begins:_

* * *

"Good evening. I'm Emily Wong, with Alliance News Network, and this is the Evening Talk."

Wong smiled at the camera, dressed in a conservative grey pantsuit with black trim, a soft grey blouse under that, her short-cut hair bobbed. The backdrop, an image of the Vancouver skyline was matte-painted on a curved wall behind her, with haptic projections of small ships and the ANN logo displayed on it.

She raised her voice slightly, faintly smiling. "Tonight we have an extremely honored guest, a person who not only has been critical in recent galactic affairs, but who is one of the most inspiring people in the Systems Alliance." She half turned to face the woman facing her in turn.

"It is with great pleasure that I wish to introduce Baroness Sara Ying Shepard, Knight Protector of the Knights of United Earth, Major-Commander of the Systems Alliance Battlegroup Chiron, and humanity's first Spectre. Welcome, milady."

Shepard took a deep breath and nodded. "I am glad to be here, Ms. Wong." The famous Butcher of Torfan was wearing an immaculate dress uniform, her many valorous decorations arranged in a neat block on her left chest, and her dark hair and dusky skin was only highlighted by the bright scarlet ribbon of the Star of Terra around her neck. She gave a thin, humorless smile, eyes flat and cool.

Emily leaned back slightly. "I am sure that there are many questions people would like to ask you, but before we get started in the interview properly, I understand you wish to make an announcement?"

Shepard nodded, turning to face the camera. "Yes, I would. I understand these sorts of things are usually done somewhat differently, but I would rather just get it out of the way. Tomorrow morning, at 9 AM upon the estates of House von Grath, I will be entering into marriage with Lady Liara T'Soni, chatelaine of House T'Soni Outrier."

Wong took almost two full seconds to regain her composure, absently noting that Shepard had developed a very slight amused smile as she did so. "Ahem. Well, ah, congratulations. That was certainly rather … unexpected, Baroness."

Shepard only gave a faint nod. "I'm told I'm good at doing what people don't expect." She then smiled a bit wider. "But more to the point, I didn't particularly want to have media speculation going rampant. This way, everyone knows."

Wong kept her expression neutral, but her mind was racing. Shepard was well known for disliking the media, and most of them would have indeed treated this like fresh meat to sharks. But she wanted to maintain whatever fragile repoire she had with Shepard, so she had to handle this carefully.

"Milady, while I'm certainly very happy you chose ANN to announce your marriage, I don't want to pry into the details if that's a problem for you, but I would like to ask a few simple questions, with your permission."

Shepard's smile defrosted at that, her eyes losing their steely focus just a bit. "I appreciate the concern, Ms. Wong. Ask away."

Wong nodded. "If I understand correctly, Lady Liara was a part of your team that hunted Saren and Benezia. Given the last name, is she related in any way to Benezia?"

Shepard's voice took on a sad overtone. "Benezia was Liara's mother, Ms. Wong. They were estranged, but not for a long period of time as asari look at it." Shepard's gaze darkened. "And in the end, it was Liara who overpowered and defeated Benezia."

Wong blinked. "I see. That sounds as if it must have been hard for her to cope with. I can't imagine what it must be like to have to kill your own mother."

Shepard nodded, her expression matching her tone. "It wasn't easy for her to get over. Asari value the relationship between mother and daughter very highly, and Liara already felt like she was not a good daughter due to the distance between herself and Benezia." She paused. "I understand that the footage of the fight was widely broadcast. Liara had no real choice but to do what she did, but that doesn't make it something she can move past without support."

Wong nodded. "I see. You've been linked in the media to more than a few eligible bachelors and the like, including your very striking Commissar that you have been seen with in more than a few places, but none of these has ever been proven to be more than baseless rumor mongering. I would like to ask if this relationship with Lady Liara been an ongoing affair…or is this marriage political?"

Shepard's lips quirked in a sour smile. "A mix of both, I guess. Liara spent a great amount of time helping me deal with the aftereffects of some Prothean technology I was forced to use in the hunt for Saren, and we grew very close during the Benezia Incident. She was isolated from her own society, and I did what I could to make her feel welcome – things just sort of fell into place."

Shepard paused, mind obviously working before speaking a bit more slowly and carefully. "At the same time, there are legal issues involving Liara and her place in asari society, issues most easily resolved by having us get married now."

Wong nodded. "Sometimes such events are driven by politics, for things to happen that would not have otherwise occurred. Would you say it is fair to say this is the case?"

Shepard paused yet again, and then shook her head. "No, I think I would have done so anyway – maybe not this quickly, but she's a very important part of my life. "

Emily smiled. "I have heard few nobles marry for purely love, and many matches are made for political reasons – I'm glad yours was not entirely for that purpose, milady." She glanced at her datapad. "I understand that Lady Liara is herself highly placed in asari society – I can only assume she is helping you adjust to your sudden elevation?"

Shepard smiled. "Some. A lot of what I've been through since the award ceremony has actually been command training and refining my tactical and strategic education – I haven't actually done a lot in terms of my nobility."

Wong folded her arms. "I suppose there will be time for that soon enough. But along those lines, it has been over twenty years since the High Lords of Sol agreed to a new Family being established – I have to ask, what is it like?"

Shepard laughed, a coolly husky sound that was surprisingly pleasant. "Ah, God, it is very confusing. I'm afraid someone with my background isn't exactly a natural at dealing with all of the, ah, intricate parts and pieces of noble life just yet, but I have people helping with that."

She folded her arms. "That being said, nobles are just people, Ms. Wong. A lot of what they do is to keep the politicians from getting too uppity and preventing any coup d'tats from the military, and they give heavily to charity work as well. I'm afraid I'm still too new to it all to really give more of an insight into the average noble than that."

Wong nodded. "I have a few questions here, gathered from readers and viewers, I'd like to run past you, milady."

Shepard shifted in her chair slightly. "Oh, this should be good."

Wong smothered a grin at her sharply sarcastic tone and began. "First , a question from Leslie Borogal, on Elysium, wanting to know what it's like to be a Spectre."

Shepard looked thoughtful at that, then nodded slowly. "That's a very good question. From what I've seen of the Spectre Corps so far, each one is unique, specializing in one thing or another. Saren was actually more the exception than the rule – many of them are more like spies and assassins than warrior-types."

She rubbed her chin. "The Spectres' work from special offices on the Citadel itself – I have one there, although I've only used it for about an hour all told. We get special rights – access passes, weapons stores, discounts – and more than a few companies want to sponsor us in hopes of having the Spectre do them a favor down the line."

Shepard looked up at Wong. "But at the end of the day, every Spectre I've spoken to has the same worries I do, of getting something wrong. We are usually called in when all else has failed, and the consequences of us also failing are usually both high and ugly."

Wong nodded. "Not exactly James Bond in Space, I take it?"

Shepard laughed. "God, no. Everything gets reviewed – the Council itself picks apart data from your suit cameras and will not hesitate to rake you over the coals if they disagree with your choices." She made a sour face. "And they disagree with _everything._"

Emily smiled at that. "Is dealing with the Council difficult, then? And what are your thoughts on humans and quarians joining?"

Shepard's expression grew rueful. "I think the Council does the best they can in a job no one in their right mind would want. No matter which way you cut it, whatever they do will make somebody unhappy, and few people I've met in life use common sense when it comes to what they expect out of life. The Council can't magically protect everyone in SA space, for example, and even if they moved the entire fleet to cover our colonies, what would happen to other alien colonies?"

Shepard leaned back some, pausing to sip at the water on the small table at her side before continuing. "As far as the whole humanity joining part….I said a while back that humans wouldn't sit at the kids table forever. I did what I thought was the right call in picking Udina – he's a good guy. I don't really have much to say about the quarians, except that I had one on my team and she's a very good engineer."

Wong raised an eyebrow. "Another question touching on that from Vincent Cals of New Edo. Many – including Charles Saracino – have made mention of your having aliens aboard the Normandy is improper, given that they were not Alliance military – or in some cases, even militarily trained. Do you feel having to carry such aliens along hindered you?"

Shepard rolled her eyes. "Will all due respect to Mr. Saracino – which is to say, none – what he knows about the requirements of being on a military vessel are on par with my knowledge of how a mass relay works. Every Council Observer was trained enough to go toe-to-toe with geth, with Cerberus, with a Spectre and with an asari war-priestess. Many of them had skills the Normandy needed for its investigations but lacked – and we lacked them because we were never given any additional resources to chase Saren."

Shepard folded her arms. "As for this statement that having them on the ship was hindering us, I'd like to hear anyone explain how they expected me to proceed, as if it wasn't for said aliens we'd never have been able to go after Saren in the first place."

Wong smiled and folded her hands. "Do you think the Alliance did enough to support you in your chase of Saren? You obviously aren't happy with Mr. Saracino."

Shepard sighed. "No, I don't, but the reasons for that have been explained to me. I don't like politics, Ms. Wong, especially when it gets in the way of doing my job as a Marine. I'm not a fan of the outlook of the current Coleman administration or their interference in going after Benezia, and that makes it very hard for me to take them seriously when they claim to be acting in the best interest of humanity."

She shifted her position slightly, making her medals clink together softly. "But at the end of the day, I'm just another solder. A more heavily trained one, perhaps – one with more rights than most, but still a soldier. I have been told that I lack the perspective to truly understand a lot of the choices the SA has made over the years to protect us. I am not happy with the way things turned out, but it's not up to me to decide if those choices are 'good' or 'bad', only to work around them."

Emily consulted her pad. "Another question, from Genella Jergens. Do you feel as if the choice you made at the Battle of the Citadel, putting the human fleet in harm's way to save the Destiny Ascension, was the right one? The Council didn't believe humanity at first when we fingered Saren and didn't offer any help to the Alliance."

Shepard grimaced. "This is why people need to stop watching that al-Jilani woman on Westerlund News."

Wong grinned. "I totally agree!"

Shepard laughed, then sobered. "To answer the question. I've had to make the call to sacrifice lives more than a few times in my career. Most times, it was when the choice was between getting a lot of my men killed, or all of my men killed. No one bothers to point out alternatives I could have found at Dirth, or at Horizon, or Torfan." She grimaced at the last name but exhaled and continued. "It's easy to criticize decisions when you're not on the spot making them – and when you don't have to live with the cost after the battle. I do."

She folded her arms. "When I made the call, Admiral Hackett was flying blind into a situation he knew nothing about. The Destiny Ascension wasn't just 'the Council' – it had almost fifteen thousand asari on board, and several thousand civilians as well – including, even though he didn't know it, Admiral Hackett's family. It had Councilor Udina's family. It had high ranking and important turians, salarians and asari aboard. If we'd bypassed saving them, what kind of message would that have sent to the other races of the Council? Or the quarians, who lost seventy thousand lives defending people who had exiled and insulted them for centuries."

She scowled. "Most importantly, going after the geth flagship at that point would have been pointless. I'd stopped Benezia by then, preventing her from whatever she planned. In the time it would have taken the Alliance to destroy the flagship, a good portion of the Citadel Fleet would have been destroyed, thousands upon thousands of lives lost. And we might not have had the strength to take the remaining geth afterwards."

Shepard smiled. "In the heat of battle a thousand things flicker through your thoughts, but I will admit right now that wasn't the only reason I did it. I did it because it was the right thing to do. Because for once I had a real choice between the quick, dirty and costly way and the way it should be done. I grieve for every sailor and marine lost aboard the eight cruisers we lost – but I don't think for a moment I'd change my decision if I had to do it again."

She glared at the camera. "As for this line about the Council doing nothing…the Council made me a Spectre. The Council sent out the STG to find where Benezia was hiding. Council forces bled and died at Feros, when they were destroyed by the geth flagship. They bled and died at Virmire, where they were willing to die to the last for a chance at bringing her down. It wasn't Alliance ships that helped me at Ilos, but quarians and volus ships."

She shook her head in disgust. "Whoever keeps saying the Council did nothing to help out is a liar, and needs to stop."

Wong nodded. "Several people sent in the same question – 'What is your take on humanity's role, and what does your job as a Spectre play in that?"

Shepard leaned forward, putting her fingertips together at the base of her chin. "Huh. I'll be honest, I had not really connected the two, but I suppose I should. To me, humanity's role right now is simple – getting on our feet, making sure our people are safe, and I guess learning how to work with the Council. People have whined and whined about us not having a seat – now we do, we have to show we're mature enough for it."

Shepard ran her thumb along her jaw. "I suppose my role in that is being a role model, as laughable as that idea sounds."

Wong arched an eyebrow. "You don't want little girls to grow up to defend the SA?"

Shepard gave a grimace of distaste. "I want people to join the SA military because they feel they have a need to protect, not to imitate anyone, especially someone who joined in the first place because of the bad choices and criminal acts I committed. People's reasons are important – when things get hard, the whys of someone's life are what determines if they stand and fight, or break and run."

Her voice softened. "And a little part of me hopes no little girl who sees me will think the path I've chosen is the right one. I'd rather them life and be happy, settle down and get married, have kids or whatever they want to do, than die in agony on some batarian slave world, or be crippled and have a 55% cybernetics payout with no job prospects after twenty years of sacrifice."

Wong sat back. "A question from Riliee Veras, from Horizon. People tell all these horrible stories about you, but nothing about the personal issues – do you have hobbies? Favorite music? Sports teams you follow?"

Shepard leaned back, relaxing a bit. "I build spaceship models as a hobby, and I dabble in creating personal defense weapons. All my musical tastes tend to run to the kind of stuff we listened to in the RRU – battle metal, Jorge Quintaro remixes, that kind of thing. I follow GASCAR, but not much else – always wanted to try my luck at a race or two."

Wong gave a smile. "Do you have favorite movies, perhaps? Shows?"

Shepard smirked. "I will admit I like watching Metal Minutes, with the turian drill instructor challenging soft civvies to try a few days of real military life." She laughed. "And Liara has me watching the Discovery Network."

Wong checked her padd. "Did your tastes evolve over time, or are they the same since you were younger?"

Shepard sighed. "In many instances, they've only developed in the past few years. I'm not sure if they've changed or not, my early life gave me few chances to relax. I do know that I've been told I'm something of a tomboy, which is pretty funny given my childhood."

Wong nodded. "Not to pry…but most of the information we have about your childhood was pretty bad to view. What did you take away from your childhood and young adulthood that you think people need to understand?"

Shepard bit her lip, thinking. "That's a hard but very good question, Emily. I'd say the most important thing is that a lot of people in the poorer arcologies have been written off for a long time, and for a lot of them crime and gangs are the only way to survive. I'm sure that will piss off the mid-habs and uppers on some of the bigger arcologies, but I'm living proof of that."

Shepard shook her head. "My own childhood was a mess, but I blame my parents for that – they were the ones who made the choices to sell their own daughter into slavery."

Wong gasped, but Shepard continued. "I won't go into what I suffered as a seven year old. I'll say that an eleven year old girl should not have to kill someone to survive, that a fifteen year old shouldn't have a criminal record longer than I am tall. Those failures I do lay on the Alliance, because we spend more money on locking up the criminals than stopping the reasons for crime."

Wong nodded slowly. "You've given this some thought, I see – do you think people can really understand what it's like?"

Shepard shook her head. "No, they can't. That's one of the reasons I wear this uniform, why I pushed so hard on Dirth and Horizon. I don't want any other little girls going through the … ugly things I had to live through. I'm tired of seeing crying parents, shattered families, and burning civilian homes."

She lifted her head, staring straight at the camera. "And I want the pirates and slavers, the runners and the kidnappers to know – I'm coming for you, sooner or later. And as a Spectre, there's no where you can run now that I can't find you. With a battle group, there's no where you can hid I can't blast you out of, and hang you by the neck until dead."

The stare was icy, cold, and Wong found herself trembling nearly uncontrollably just catching the edge of it. Shepard's features twisted into a flat smile.

"I'm still the Butcher."


	2. Redellion

_**A/N:** Between interviews, there will be short story snippets. _

_Henry Wade Redellion is based on a living person who is a titanic asshole, and who I hope reads this story. :D Sup, Mikey?_

* * *

_"I'm not sure who was the bigger troll after the war - Wong or Vigil. The worst damned thing I ever did was letting her interview it." _

_\- Major-Commander Sara Shepard , "Lay It On Me"_

* * *

"Wong! Get in here!" The voice of the Chief Editor rang out across the jury-rigged intercom system that ran through all of the offices in the newsfloor.

Emily Wong gave a long suffering sigh as she changed her trajectory, away from her office and towards the Chief Editor's office. The corridors of the main ANN newsfloor were always full of rushing aides and people clutching data-pads, the nice view of the Arcturus Sphere through the windows mostly wasted. Today was no exception, and she knew from long experience it would just get worse after the noon report.

Wong had been working for ANN since she graduated, following in the footsteps of her father, grandfather, and great-grandmother in journalism. Unlike the parasites at Westerlund News, who employed an army of slimy muckrackers to dig up dirt and then paid hacks like al-Jilani and il-Duracina to peddle it, the ANN prided itself on clean, old-fashioned hard work and investigative reporting.

Wong hated that every big shot at Westerlund had some kind of exotic, hyphenated name.

The ANN was also known for being fully inline with whatever the Alliance told them to say, but that was beside the point. They had a Media Directive telling them the Alliance didn't want a propaganda machine, and while they still needed advertising, a good third of their budget was picked up by the SA, making it much easier to operate. Westerlund spouted the worst kind of propaganda, literally drowning in anti-alien, pro-SA, pro-corporate slogans.

Wong wove through the crowds near the editor's office before finally making it inside. The Editor's office was, if one was kind, 'cluttered'. An entire wall was given over to plaques, awards, and certificates, another wall to pictures and hap-snaps of the editor standing next to movie stars, politicos, and famous military types.

The desk dominated the room, old-fashioned wood that probably cost more than Emily made in a year, topped with built in haptic projectors and an ancient reproduction of a manual typewriter converted into a data entry system. Haptic video screens and newsfeeds covered the other two walls.

Henry Wade Redellion was the Chief Editor and God of ANN, a combat reporter who'd picked up a gun during the FCW and shot down three charging turians during an assault captured on camera and then gone on calmly reporting the battle as if nothing had happened, which had won him great admiration. He was a hard man of extremely strong opinions, a rabid exercise fanatic and a brutal taskmaster. His broad, florid face was topped with fiery red hair, clashing with his brown skin and dark black eyes that always seemed set in a scowl. A masticated cigar was clenched between bright white teeth, smoked down to a nub, and his huge hands banged the desk as she entered.

"The hell happened with the Butcher interview? I told you to get in there and get us something hard and juicy, and you softballed her the entire night! I've seen you interview kids harder than that!"

Wong folded her arms. "Sorry, boss, but you don't pay me enough to afford cybernetic correction if I said the wrong thing and she broke my entire face. Nor do you provide body armor. The last time a reporter got pushy with Shepard, she dislocated his pelvis, and I didn't even know that was a thing you could do." She glared back. "Besides, the commissar who met up with me before the interview made it very clear that if we embarrassed or angered her the last thing we would be answering questions to them directly. And by 'questions' he pretty much meant 'flamethrower', just so you know."

Redellion scowled even more. "I don't let the Black Hats dictate our operations!"

She shrugged. "Then you do the next interview with her, sir. I'm not getting shoved in some re-education camp because you don't like her and wanted me to go for her throat." She tilted her head. "Anything else?"

Redellion stubbed out his cigar. "I should fire your ass, Wong. A good chunk of our budget comes from Saracino, and you let her rake him over the coals without even trying to stop her. Now I've got the CEO on my ass about damage control and 'directing the message' and all of that."

Wong sighed, sitting down in front of the desk. "We had a choice. We could piss off Saracino and the Earth First people, or we could piss off the Commissars, the President, Shepard, and most likely the asari – who provide sixty-eight percent of our advertising and just as much funding as Saracino does. Did you miss the fact there were THREE houses of the Thirty at the wedding?"

The editor flicked through graphs on a data-padd. "Yes, I did see that much, thank you, woman. But you could have nailed her with much harder questions than you did."

Wong shrugged. "Sure, and we could have gotten huge ratings – and then she'd never trust us with another interview again. My way ensured we can not only get another interview, which she's ALREADY agreed to do, but I was also able to get her to agree afterwards to think about taking on an embedded reporter."

The frustrated anger slowly melted from Redellion's face at that. "That...would need clearance from the Alliance Bureau of Personnel."

Wong snorted. "She got a pair of aliens commissioned, one of them barely old enough to drink or drive. I think she can handle BuPers, boss." She tapped her fingernails on the chair she sat in. "Plus, in the follow on, I was able to push the subject, and I got us the chance to interview some people close to her."

He leaned forward. "Like who?"

She smiled. "Admiral Tradius Ahern."

He sat bolt upright and gave a long whistle at that, leaning back, pulling out a fresh cigar. "That…well, that would be a nice feather in your cap. Ahern doesn't do interviews, and hasn't for fifteen years."

She shrugged. "Shepard said she'd vouch for me. And I'd like to run the list of what I plan to ask him past him – or at least his political officer – beforehand, as a sign of playing fair and trust."

He grunted. "Might as well, there's no playing gotcha with Ahern. What about the Aish Ashland interview?"

Wong sighed. "Still on hold – our girl is apparently having a torrid fling with, ah, a pair of turian females." She smiled as he grimaced.

"She's having some cyberware installed for durability purposes." She watched as the man's face twitched, and gave an evil grin. "And maybe some prosthetics installed – turian ladies like penetration."

Redellion was silent for several seconds before placing his cigar on the desk gently and pulling something out of his desk. It turned out to be a metal flask, heavily embossed with the words 'brain bleach' on it, and he sipped liberally from it before giving a grunt. "Wong, I didn't need to visualize that shit or hear any of it."

She gave a happy smile. "Here to help, boss."

He grimaced. "Feh." He shook his head, and consulted something on his dayplanner, before nodding. "Alright, I'll book you down two rooms and the next week for the Ahern interview – pull people from the camera and writing teams as needed, but I want this to be good, Wong! Don't just softball him, we need to get something good out of this."

She nodded. "Should I go ahead and have IT cook up a good profanity filter?"

He shook his head. "Nope, we'll throw it on the nightly timeline, with a warning to audiences – people like hearing him cuss." He rubbed his chin. "May want to do the interview outside the studio – park, his office, home, whatever. More natural feel."

She nodded. "Anything else?"

The editor folded his arms. "See if you can work in the chance to get him to tell stories – the public would simply eat UP a chance to hear about Dalthos Fortress from an eyewitness."

Wong nodded again, and the editor made a sweeping gesture. "Get out of here, and don't ever spout any more filth about that tramp Aish again in my hearing. Disgusting."

Wong turned to leave, but paused in the doorway. "Rumor says she's having orthoskin installed over her breasts to deal with cutting issues…"

Redellion gave her a hateful glare, and then drank from his flask once more, and Wong slipped out the doorway, bursting into wicked laughter a moment later.


	3. Ahern

_**A/N:** Ahern's piece takes place a week after Shepard's wedding.  
_

* * *

_"Can you fly, bird?" _

_\- Ahern to Saren, just prior to the former backhanding the latter off the top of a dam_

* * *

_DOWNLOADING: Data feed, prime broadcast segment 495_

_Direct recording dump 996-tertiary omega, classified rating [ALPHA]_

_This is an official Systems Alliance data capture dump, replication or rebroadcast is restricted._

_Recording begins:_

* * *

"Good evening. I'm Emily Wong, with Alliance News Network, and this is the Evening Talk. You've probably noticed we swapped timeslots with the Euro-Salarian GASCAR 2000 rally, moving our projection slot for simulcast to eleven PM. That's due to the nature of this program, which may contain profanity. Parental discretion is advised."

Wong smiled at the camera, dressed in a silvery blouse over a black bodysuit with high black boots. "Tonight our guest is one of the most highly decorated heroes not just of the Systems Alliance, but the Asari Republic, the Salarian Union, and the Turian Hierarchy. Recently promoted to command of the Alliance Fifth Fleet, I'm proud to introduce Fleet Admiral Tradius Ahern."

The man across from her gave a wintry smile. His features were hard but almost ageless – reddish blond hair cut in a precise Marine fashion, barely frosted with gray at the temples. Cool dark eyes, a rugged jaw, and thin, bloodless lips were the centerpoint of his almost blocky head. Broad shoulders decorated with the five gold stripes of his rank straightened as he spoke in a quiet, gravelly voice.

"Glad to be here, Ms. Wong. A bit amused you actually moved the show to a later time. Is my language that well known?"

She smiled impishly. "Many who know you well would say your colorful vocabulary is a part of your charm – others have suggested you are not able to actually speak without profanity."

Ahern snorted, adjusting his position in the chair. "Ma'am, that just further solidifies the view I've held of most people for a long time – at least ninety percent of them will believe anything they hear. I won't say I'm not fond of cursing – you would be too in a job like mine." He gave her a crooked smile. "But saying I can't even talk without running off at the mouth is a bit farfetched."

Wong almost pouted. "So you don't curse very much at all?"

Ahern arched an eyebrow and stared at the camera. "Your audience must have watched video of me unloading on the last class of N7 trainees. I won an award from some pack of clowns who said it was the most profanity ridden speech in history and contained more vulgar words than regular ones. No, Ms. Wong – my wife doesn't allow profanity in the house, so at least half the time I am not cussing off my head."

He paused. "That's not to say I won't curse tonight if you ask me something fucking retarded. Ma'am."

Wong grinned. "I'll try not to, but no promises, Admiral." She paused. "Given your long history of service with the Alliance – and the fact that you've saved us all twice – most of what people know about you is mostly urban legends and rumor. Do you mind if I cover some of that first?"

He shrugged. "Not at all."

She lifted a padd. "You were said to be one of the youngest captains in Alliance history, but there's little information on your early life before that point. Would you speak of your childhood?"

Ahern folded his arms. "Not much to say, really. Father was the ninth kid out of eleven, born in the middle of the Days of Iron – he was the only child who lived past fifteen years old. He was a techminer, digging up scraps of metal, recyclables, and looking for technical manuals, university textbooks – anything and everything to help us rebuild. My mother was a dishwasher, a waitress, and a maid for a few of the big-shot trade merchants that hung out near Berlin."

He sighed. "I was their third kid, and both my brothers died before I was even old enough to walk – food shortages and no medicine. 2130 doesn't sound so long ago, but we were still having rationing as late as 2141, until the colonies started shipping back food. Growing up in the 30's and 40's was hell, pure hell."

His eyes grew distant, expression tightening. "The arcologies were finished up by that point, mostly, but Earth was torn by conflict – wars between resource groups, terrorists and so-called 'freedom fighters'. Assholes in the US, France, Algeria, Russia, China – all of 'em refusing to submit to Victor or Jacen Manswell."

He grimaced. "I never finished school – they only had a SSA training facility for kids from seven to fifteen – after that you were expected to work or join the military. I did my three years junior militia service before that."

Wong interrupted. "Junior militia?"

Ahern smiled. "Until 2146, we didn't reestablish a regular school system. When were you born, ma'am?"

Wong blinked. "2150."

He nodded. "That's why you don't remember. Like I said, the Alliance – and before that, the Solar System Alliance – didn't have the money, or manpower, to fund education. Most of the nations didn't either – Germany was so broke from building arcologies and trying to feed and clothe everyone we had enough cash to either rebuild industry and the economy, or teach people and provide social services – not both. So people starved in the streets and I didn't learn to read until I was twelve."

Ahern's hand fiddled with his pant leg. "When you hit fifteen, school was over. If you had money, or had connections, I guess, you could get a gig with some merchants or what not and have them get you more training – most people ended up doing manual labor, or food service, or hauling scrap – whatever you could. I spent my birthday hauling copper wire from old downed power lines by hand and went home with bloody palms and infected cuts." He held up his hands, where faded scars still remained on his palms. "Figured out then that doing that kind of living wasn't for me."

She nodded and gestured. "So you joined this junior militia? Why did we need one – didn't the military protect the cities?"

He shook his head. "You have to remember – we didn't fully pacify the Near Hinterlands close by most Arcology spaces until 2160, and not until the past five years can you walk around outside an Arcology or a dome without a damned life support mask. Back then, there were never enough military types to keep order, or drive off mutated animals or bandits."

His gaze grew distant again, a faint smile on his face. "Kids were rounded up, put into a uniform, handed old surplus gunpowder weapons, and used to patrol the streets and protect the roads between cities. It was ugly work – we had Heer supervisors, and the occasional old SA marine to help out, but most times it was just us. Thank God Germany's hinterlands weren't too bad."

He shook his head. "Areas like the American South, or the Chinese Hot Delta, or God above, the Black Glassing – those areas were and still are warzones. I wouldn't go back into the Deep South of the USA without a goddamned regiment and armor support – I saw things in the Okefenokee that scare the crap out of me even today."

Wong nodded in fascination. "Why wasn't this taught in history classes?"

Ahern exhaled. "Because it's bad old history, Ms. Wong. I'm sure your dad remembers, and so do a lot of older citizens, but we try to put it behind us because those days are over. Nowdays, kids have kindergarten and can muck about with a damned sandcastle and have recess like kids are supposed to, and worry about proms and dances instead of if they'll get shot on patrol."

She nodded. "What happened after this militia service?"

Ahern smiled. "I entered the military. My old man was doing some good business with a couple of expatriates from Family Chu, and I ended up running with one of them when I was younger. That was Yonis Chu."

Wong bit her lip. "The AIS Director?"

He smiled and leaned back. "The same. Anyway, we joined a unit, got assigned teams, and shuffled things around. After a year I was promoted twice, and by the time I had been in five years, I'd gone officer and promoted to Captain."

Ahern placed his hands on his knees, leaning forward. "That was about the time the First Contact War blew up. My unit was one of the first infantry units picked for the N-program, and the training we got before Shanxi is the only reason we survived. From there…well, it's all pretty well known."

Wong checked her datapad. "The war was deeply traumatic for many people. A lot of humans still dislike and distrust turians for it. Given that you lived through it, what do we who were born after it need to know?"

Ahern rubbed his chin as he thought. "Damn good question. I think the biggest take-away is that most of the bitterness and dislike us older citizens have towards the turian is not racism. We saw their armies burn and kill our loved ones, shatter our cities, blow our fleets out of the sky. They thought themselves perfectly justified to commit all out genocide, and from what I heard if not for one asari woman with a spine, the Citadel would have let them do it."

He folded his arms. "None of us are going to forget or forgive that. I won't make very many friends by saying this, but the reaction to anything going wrong with galactic stability appears to be pretty hostile. They offed the rachni, damn near offed the krogan, and didn't bother to help the quarians. Cut the batarians aloose at the first sign of a problem." He gave a cold smile. "Kids today who tell us we need to 'let go of the past' didn't live through it. You didn't grow up in shit, struggling to make ends meet, and just when you get things going good again lose everything to a pack of cowards who's idea of 'honor' is to assault people weaker than them while outnumbering them ten to one."

He exhaled. "It's a touchy issue, ma'am. I think the Alliance has done a good job in closing many of the old scars of the First Contact War, but that doesn't mean I'm going to forget what caused them in the first place."

Wong nodded slowly. "Your action at Dalthos Fortress has been called 'impossible' and 'heroic'. It stopped the turian advance cold, giving us enough of a chance to catch our breath in the war – it probably saved the Alliance from immediate collapse. What can you tell us about it?"

Ahern gave her a crooked smile. "That's a broad question, Ms. Wong." He rubbed his chin, thinking. "Telling the whole story is something I've done a thousand times. But everyone's already heard it. I'll tell you instead what it was like."

He exhaled. "Terrifying. There were only five of us and we had nothing. Kinetic shields that were experimental and likely to fail. No omni-tools, just primitive VI driven data pads. No medigel and no omnigel – first aid packs, ACE bandages, and the like. No modern FTL comms - regular old radio. No cybernetics, no nanoware, nothing. No biotics. Just good old rifles, muscles, grenades, and brains."

He leaned back. "The turians we fought didn't expect us. They thought we were weak, beaten, defeated, honorless." He sneered. "To this day I think half the reason we pulled it off is they were too thunderstruck to think five monkeys would actually steal a ship and smash it into their fancy base."

Wong smiled. "Not too long ago we interviewed a turian admiral who survived your assault – he stated that they thought the signal returns were a hack and the attack was coming from elsewhere."

Ahern gave a bark of hard laughter. "Oh, that's good." He shook his head. "By the time we got aboard the dreadnaught, they were panicking. Michael Saracino stood on the wings of the ship in a space-suit and shot sixty of the stupid bastards trying to charge up and take the ship from us, and then Preston Kyle dropped the explosives and crushed a good thousand of them. God, Wong, you cannot imagine ten thousand angry turians screaming for vengeance, it was like a sonic assault."

She chuckled. "What else can you tell us about the assault? It's the most repeated question we get when it comes to people asking you things. How many turians did you kill?"

Ahern gave a sigh. "Too many. Don't get me wrong, in a fight I have no time to sort out good from bad. But a lot of the turians in that base were just civilians. Pregnant women. Goddamned kids." He rubbed his forehead. "Why the hell turians bring kids into areas like that is beyond me. But we killed forty thousand people when we crashed that cruiser and blew that dreadnaught's eezo core."

He looked her in the eye. "It's not something you get over quickly."

Wong nodded sympathetically. "Then let us talk about more contemporary events. What is your take on the Alliance being a part of the Citadel Council?"

Ahern snorted, adjusting his belt. "Ms. Wong, the last time I had anything to do with the Council was when I was trying out for the Spectre force, alongside David Anderson. That nearly got us both killed. I ended up having to fight off a cybered-up krogan red-sand freak with a fireaxe, and my asari overseer Tela got all her arms and legs broken and lost one of her head-tentacle thingies. After getting my ribs set back where they belonged and out of my lungs, the Council patted me on the head and told me I was a good boy, basically."

He shook his head. "They're politicians, Ms. Wong. Some of them used to be soldiers, but at the end of the day their job is to make sure I don't have to do my job, that of killing people. We're never going to see eye to eye because they end up having to make compromises that cost people livelihoods, dreams, or even their lives."

His voice calmed. "Said all that to put this old canard out there – the squeaky wheel gets the grease. We annoyed the shit out of the Council for years, and it's no surprise they didn't want to play ball with us, with our own government full of people who call them derogatory terms and suggest we ignore them. But we didn't a seat because we played by their stupid rules, bled for it and proved we got the job done. We got it because they knew if we didn't get picked, we'd walk away for real, and they'd look like asshats."

He shrugged. "End of the day? It's progress, I guess. One of the things I drill into the heads of recruits and officers alike is that you take what you can get and you be thankful you got it. I hope that we can use our new status to keep more trouble from falling on our heads."

Wong smiled. "But you remain skeptical in the long run if it will produce results?"

Ahern waggled a hand. "Skeptical is too strong a word, Ms. Wong. I'm going to reserve judgment because I've seen words come out of a politician's mouth while his hands are doing something entirely different enough times to know better…but at the same time?"

He looked down. "I had to bury a daughter because we didn't have the money or troops to protect the colony she was defending. I had to watch my friend die slowly and painfully because we didn't have the technology to save him. I watched the government I fought and bled for become bogged down in political infighting to the point where groups like fucking Cerberus seemed to be doing more for the outlying colonies than the Alliance did. If having to wear big-boy pants helps us act more mature and get our shit together, I'm all for it, even if it costs us a few things."

Wong glanced at her data pad. "A lot of people question the choice of Rear Admiral Branson for High Admiral, and more than one person wondered, with all your experience, why you were not chosen."

Ahern laughed. "I can answer the second question easy enough. Every High Admiral we've had has been a noble. So has every Fleet Master. I'm not nobility, and the highest I'll ever get is where I am now."

Wong frowned. "You have two Stars of Terra…"

Ahern's smile turned crooked. "That makes me a baronet. Big deal. The Court of Lords isn't going to make me into a real noble, mainly because I don't want to be one. My kid is dead and my wife and I are too old to have more children, not that I wanted any. I have a niece who will follow in my footsteps, so maybe one day an Ahern will grace the ranks of the Families, but not while I draw breath."

He folded his arms. "Back to your first question, though – Branson was picked for his role the same way Shepard was picked for hers. Neither one was the best candidate for the job. They come with baggage and an image, and those are why people in power selected them."

Wong nodded. "You were rumored to not get along with the previous High Admiral – do you feel you can do your job with Admiral Branson in command?"

Ahern rubbed his nose. "See, this is one of those bullshit questions I warned you about, Ms. Wong. I'm a soldier. I follow orders, whether I like 'em or not, as long as they are lawful and in regulation. No, I don't much care for the kid, but I don't much care for most of the Alliance High Command and they've known that for decades. But I'm not good at politics. My method for dealing with any threat to my people is to kill it, hard and without delay, and that isn't always the right answer. So, no, it doesn't fucking matter if I want to bitchslap most of High Command out of my face – they're the ones picked to do the job they have, and I'll do mine."

Wong raised her eyebrows, pitching her voice lower. "I didn't mean to offend, Admiral – "

He held up a hand. "Course you did, Ms. Wong. That's what media do, it's why I denied interviews and media requests for so long. But what you have to understand is that your bosses and mine are very much alike. They are both looking at the bottom line, be that dollars and ratings or ships and political funding issues. If you don't do a good job and get the news big ratings, then your company doesn't have the cash and prestige to do what it needs. If I don't do a good job and make attacking the Alliance look like a suicide run, then we get hammered by Congress and our funding reduced, making it harder to protect everyone."

He sighed. "But what people in charge lose sight of is there are people affected by that sort of thing. I doubt your editor wants you to give me 'easy' questions – he wants you to attack me, to embarrass me or make me go off on a profanity-ridden tirade that gets people to tune in. But he's not thinking of the long term consequences of that. You make me look like a fool on intergalactic extranet and you'll get ratings, sure. The Alliance will be furious, my friends in Family Chu, Kyle, and Dragunov will be furious, the Asari Queen Matriarch, whose life I saved from that krogan cybernetic asshole, will be furious."

He leaned forward. "And Shepard will be really, really furious. So in the long run, you get screwed over and out." He gave a thin smile, and leaned back. "Likewise … sure, the Alliance could put me in charge of the fleets. And in the short term I tell you, shit would be glorious. I would beat the Batarians into a paste and remind Aria what Repensum Est Canicula really means, and our colonies would not put up with slavers and any of that raider crap."

He sighed. "But I'd piss off everyone doing it. The taxes would triple, the casualty rates would go through the roof, we'd end up with food rationing and travel restrictions. The Council would flip its shit and expel us, maybe even go to war with us. In the long run, we'd get beaten like a rug. That is why we have smooth-talking types like Branson, Bekenstein and His Majesty the President doing the talky things, and bastards like me, Dragunov and Shepard doing the killy things."

Wong nodded. "That seems like a depressing way to divide and look at the universe, Admiral."

Ahern chuckled. "I've never let myself get depressed. Oh, I understand it happens to some people through no fault of their own, chemical imbalances or whatever, but Jesus Fucking Christ, this is the twenty-second century. Get some goddamned nanomeds and move the hell on. What I cannot stand is angst and emo crying for the sake of drama, Ms. Wong. "

When she glanced at her padd again, he leaned back. She thought for a moment before speaking. "Given your long career, what life lessons do you wish you could pass along?"

Ahern grew still before speaking in a quiet voice. "Just two things, ma'am. First, heroes die. You may think you are tough, ready, strong – but keep it in mind. Your loved ones will be hurt when you buy it in a stupid fight you could have gotten out of alive if you'd used your brains instead of chasing glory." He fingered the red ribbons around his neck. "I didn't want either one of these things, and getting them cost a lot of lives. You can't be proud of that."

He stared at the camera. "The second thing I want everyone to take away from me is simple : think before you act. Doesn't matter if you process omni-goop for a living or you're a genius brain doctor, take a moment to engage that brain of yours before running off and doing the first damnfool impulse that pops in your head."

Wong nodded. "We have a few questions from viewers, but only one really stands out that I think should be asked: Who is the best soldier you've trained, and who are you the most proud of training?"

Ahern thought. "Ivan Dragunov is without a doubt the best I've trained. He's an excellent ground combatant, a damned good pilot, a very damned good sniper, good in a tank, better in a battlesuit, and nasty when commanding troops or ships. There's a VERY good reason he's Fleet Master, he's the best there is at it. There are plenty of people who can outperform him at one thing or another, but no one who can do that well at all those things combined."

"As for the most proud? Huh. Probably no correct answer to that Ms. Wong. I'm not pissing off every N7 in space."


	4. Udina

_**A/N: **Udina's piece takes place roughly forty five days after Shepard's death. _

* * *

_"I have seen all manner of alien and human activity, connivance and general political skulduggery, and usually I am resigned to the vile and evil never receiving their comeuppance. Which is why I laughed for a good five minutes when I heard that cretin Saracino had shot himself over the discovery of his sick molestations. Truly, never has a pistol been put to better use."_

_\- Human Councilor Donnel Udina, "'Maybe later' is never the right answer"_

* * *

_DOWNLOADING: Data feed, prime broadcast segment 501_

_Direct recording dump 1245-tertiary omega, classified rating [ALPHA] : COMMISSARIAT OVERRIDE : classified rating [DEMON-FIVE-SHEPARD]_

_This is an official Systems Alliance data capture dump, replication or rebroadcast is restricted._

_Recording begins:_

* * *

"Good evening. I'm Emily Wong, with Alliance News Network, and this is the Evening Talk." Wong's face broke into a smile. She wore a silvery-white short coat over her pale gray blouse and black slacks, and the background was that of the Citadel Presidium. "Rather than our usual location in Arcturus, tonight we're coming you live from the Citadel."

"The past month and a half has been troubling and full of tragedy, beginning with the death of humanity's first Spectre, Baroness Sara Shepard and the destruction of the SR1 Normandy. Not long after that we heard the details of General von Grath's daring mission to recover her body from alien gangsters on Omega, an effort that – while successful – cost the lives of Shepard's wife, Lady Liara T'Soni-Shepard, as well as three more heroes of the Benezia Incident. It has been confirmed that C-SEC officers Garrus Vakarian and Telanya Nasan were killed in the Omega attack, as well as Lady Liara's father, Aethyta Vasir."

"The geth have been declared responsible for the attack on the Normandy and the death of Baroness Shepard, but we don't know why or how criminal elements in the Terminus got involved in trying to, according to reports, steal and sell her body to the highest bidder. President Windsor, still badly wounded from the recent assassination attempt, has authorized the Alliance military to declare all out war on the geth."

She turned to one side. "Covering all of this with us tonight is the single human best placed to put everything in context. It is my honor to bring you Humanity's Councilor, Donnel Udina. Thank you for joining us, sir."

Udina gave a thin smile. His clothing was expensive and immaculate as usual – Dolce-Eldfell black tri-cut blazer, with thick panels of astrakan crossing the flanks and arms, worn over a dark gray drape dress shirt, black slacks and expensive shoes. His eyes narrowed as he spoke. "It is my duty to be of service to our people, Ms. Wong. I am fully aware people have questions, and the lack of answers given thus far by the Alliance has been intended."

He steepled his fingers. "Investigations into the deaths of both Baroness Shepard and the majority of her team have taken some time. Moving about in Terminus space was … politically and militarily challenging. We have recovered the wreckage of the SR1 Normandy and the AMTSB is going over what we have found for clues as to how she went down."

Wong nodded. "Let us start with that, then. There have been many, many questions asked about why the Normandy was operating alone, with no back up, very deep inside the Terminus systems and very nearly inside geth space, and why Shepard – who was detached from the Normandy and in command of the SCV Kazan – was aboard in the first place. Can you tell us more?"

He nodded. "Prior to her death, Alliance command received Spectre intelligence that geth were active in that region. The STG, upon analyzing it, suggested it pointed toward a new geth fleet anchorage, one that could threaten inner Council space if not checked quickly. We could not simply allow the geth to operate brazenly on the edge of the Veil, and yet the area of space was not one the Council could simply dispatch a fleet to."

He sighed. "Early attempts to secure passage from Aria through both formal and, shall we say, _informal_ diplomatic channels were rebuffed, with heavy threats if we acted in the area. The decision was made by various parties to utilize the stealth abilities of the Normandy to investigate the area and find targets of interest." He shifted in his chair. "It was my understanding that upon discovery of the rumored geth anchorage in the area, the Citadel could either try to convince Aria of the danger or send in additional Spectre or STG forces to take it out."

His mouth tightened to a grimace. "Despite her brave words, Citadel intelligence and the AIS both concluded Aria did not want a war, but could not back down either. If her forces discovered the Normandy in the Terminus, they would no doubt destroy the ship – unless there was someone aboard that would generate a backlash if killed."

Wong nodded. "So they put Baroness Shepard on board, assuming that Aria wouldn't want to kill a Spectre, which tends to have consequences.."

Udina's voice became droll. "That was the thinking. Or at least, would make any such attack less likely. It was Branson's idea, with the President unconcious after the assassination attempt, no one could gainsay such an order. I did not fully agree with the logic, but at the time we considered the larger threat to be that of the geth, not Aria's posturing. And given the Normandy's success in evading hostile contact during the course of the Benezia Incident, we figured the assignment was less risky than the alternative."

Wong arched an eyebrow. "What was the alternative?"

Udina smiled frostily. "Another classified operation involving the geth that I'm not allowed to touch on at this time. Suffice it to say that, in the aftermath of the battle of New Berlin, Shepard's strike group was in tatters, down several ships and in no condition to fight. Any other deployment she was assigned to would have no doubt put her directly into the line of fire with limited and inadequate resources, and to be frank, she'd endured more than enough of that over the years."

He folded his arms. "And as far as danger went, well. It was a very dangerous region of space, but the Normandy had escaped entire geth fleets and worse situations. To think that the Normandy's stealth systems, upgraded armor, heavier weapons and new shields would be ineffective...was not something anyone planned for."

Wong looked at the padd in her hands. "That's the second big question out there, along with some pretty amusing conspiracy theories. Her dislike for the new Coleman administration, particularly Minster Saracino, was openly said and widely known. More than a few people have pointed to statements by the crew of the Normandy that survived saying it wasn't the geth and think she may have been sent to her death."

Udina sighed. "And this, Ms. Wong, is exactly why we did not release information until now. The investigation was run by AIS agents under the direct control of Commandant Jaesa Series, who is famous for having hung not one but two High Lords of Sol over the years for high treason after having their rank stripped. Commandant Series only dismissed internal sabotage and the possibility of Shepard being railroaded to her death after … severe interrogations and investigations found nothing."

He frowned. "The examination being done by the Alliance Military Transportation Safety Board has, thus far, found nothing out of spec. Given the condition of the wreck of the Normandy and the fact that we believe criminal elements stole some of the wreck, this by itself is inclusive. Interviews of the crew suggest the ship was running at non-battle stations and had found nothing in weeks, which may have made them somewhat … less than alert." He held up a hand. "I don't mean to cast aspersions on the crew. They were veterans and highly trained. But weeks of no actions and no contacts, and aboard a ship known for stealth, and it is more than likely they were simply not prepared for sudden battle."

"Finally, the fact that the stealth system failed was not something we planned for, obviously. Yet in hindsight, we should have. The geth have surprised us again and again with their technology, Ms. Wong. Shepard's own reports said they'd figured out when the Normandy was coming through relays even with the stealth system, and the geth technology we've recovered so far outstrips Council tech by decades in many cases. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the geth have sensors capable of picking up stealthed ships, and that the vessel that destroyed the Normandy was … _related_ … to the geth flagship destroyed at the Citadel."

Wong's eyebrows shot up. "They have more?"

Udina shook his head. "No. but investigation of the hull damage to the Normandy suggests a similar weapon was used – one that the Normandy was very ill equipped to handle. The stealth system and weapons load of the SR1 made her very dangerous, but at a cost in both armor and durability. That, above all else, is what killed her – the first strike took out the CIC and, from interviews, nearly killed the XO and pilot, knocked out the main engines and primary weapons, and crippled the ship's mobility. Winning the battle past that point was impossible."

Wong nodded. "Do we know how she ... died? The Alliance has not given details."

Udina's stern expression crumpled, and he glanced away. "We do. It was ... not an easy death. From all reports, Shepard ordered the evacuation of the ship immediately. The pilot was crippled by damage to the cockpit, and the XO unconscious from the initial strike, so she went after them with the intention of punching out in the bridge escape pod."

He exhaled, and looked up to meet Wong's gaze. "As the pods were firing, the attackers broke off firing at the Normandy and incinerated one of the escape pods. Shepard transmitted orders for all pods to go to immediate FTL after putting the XO and pilot aboard the last pod. This transmission, combined with her managing to some how get the ship moving away, drew the attackers back to her and away from her crew."

His jaw tightened. "She had every chance to escape...the bridge escape pod would have been shielded from direct fire by the bulk of the Normandy, and if she had chosen to use it, she would have been able to get it to FTL and escape with her life. But that would mean at least three to five other pods would have been destroyed in the interim, and she refused to sacrifice her crew."

Wong nodded, and he went on, his voice like iron but with a faint note of pain, and pride. "Every survivor reported her saying goodbye to her wife, and then _taunting_ the attacking ship to try and kill her. And even as it blew the Normandy apart and murdered her, she got off a single shot with a Kyle-class torpedo she'd specially loaded when she first set out, that either crippled or possibly completely destroyed the attacker."

His smile twisted sadly. "Even in death she was fighting for the safety of her people."

Wong was silent for a few seconds before continuing. "Do we know why criminal elements went after the … wreckage?"

Udina blew out a breath. "Some of the records of the general courts-martial of General von Grath, Lieutenant Commander Moreau and Lieutenant Commander Zorah have been unsealed, but the only information we have is based on the information from their testimony. According to von Grath his 'contacts' – which he, as well as Moreau and Zorah, refused to identify – said the criminal kingpin known as P. looted the ship opportunistically, hoping to find secrets. He found Shepard's body instead and planned to sell it to parties unknown."

Wong looked horrified. "Sell it? Like a..."

Udina nodded grimly. "Some sick bastard wanted it as a trophy, no doubt. Some slaving cretin or some warlord Shepard's activities have crippled over the years. While I certainly understand why the Admiralty court-martialed von Grath and those two, a part of me cannot help but feel deeply offended that if they had not acted, one of our Lords and a hero that saved the Citadel and Alliance alike would be put in such a state."

He gave a wry, depreciating smile. "Not that there has been any _effort_ to bring to justice the looters. The Alliance says the geth are to blame, not the looters. I am hoping very much that they all died on Omega, but from what we know about happened there...I am doubtful."

Emily smiled faintly. "There have been a lot of crazy rumors coming out of Omega since what many are calling the Burning, most of them centering around the Shadow Broker being involved in some way. A few conspiracy theories widely distributed on the extranet say that the Broker was even the ultimate party to attempt to buy Shepard's corpse and was responsible for the deaths of Lady Liara, Lady Aethyta, and Detectives Vakarian and Nasan. Can you speak to that?"

He shook his head. "As you can imagine, the Queen of Omega is hardly receptive to investigations on her station, nor has she responded to multiple requests for more information." His voice took on a slightly mocking, slightly disbelieving tone. "Additionally she seems to think the Citadel turned the Broker onto her and that it resulted in some kind of firefight...bottom line, we may never know fully what happened."

Wong frowned. "Why then prosecute the war against the Geth?"

Udina sat forward. "There are a number of reasons, Ms. Wong – highest among them would be the savage attacks on Terra Nova, Palaven, Irune, Sur'kesh, and the Citadel. The AIS, although it has not vouchsafed many reasons, feels the geth are responsible for Shepard's death, or at least played a role. There is the fact that they have extremely advanced technology and are extremely hostile to all organic life. Finally, there are other more classified matters unearthed during the last days of the Benezia Incident indicating they may have access to … additional high technology of a troubling nature."

Wong nodded. "You mean the giant geth flagship that nearly destroyed the Destiny Ascension?"

Udina spread his hands."That is one part of it, yes. The quarians are very sure of the technology level of their creations – and whatever the geth have been up to, they have moved far beyond us in many fields – shipbuilding, kinetics, laser technology, info-war, even basics like heat dissipation and missile technology. The geth are not organics, and can rebuild their fleets and armies much more quickly than we can. We cannot let them catch their breath and hit us again."

She glanced at the pad in her hands, flipping through a few tabs before inclining her head. "A big concern put forth in the last elections, which saw such astonishing losses by your own Information Party, was a sense of resentment that the Council was not doing more to protect humans. How has being a part of the Council changed your outlook, and that of our alien partners?"

Udina leaned back. "Ah, a nuanced question indeed. Politics is ugly, Ms. Wong, for it is nothing less than surrendering what you would _like_ to have in exchange for what you absolutely _have_ to have. In this case, our economic ties to the asari and the volatility of the exchange markets have slowed our own economy to half of its previous meteoric growth. Taxes have gone up, absolute wages down, and more and more people move to the colonies to escape the lack of jobs in Sol."

He folded his hands together. "In that aspect, being on the Council – and having an actual chair at the Committee of Economic Affairs – has helped us immensely. Having the tariffs removed alone has saved the Alliance over ten billion credits a year, and the increased trade with the quarians has opened up totally new markets for hyperscoops and less than shipload shipping."

He shrugged. "At the same time, things happen slowly and with a cost. We've had to face increased competition in several areas, and we now must ensure our inter-species trade laws and import laws, not to mention travel restrictions, fall in line with Citadel Law. The less tolerant of our race will no doubt be frothing at the mouth over allowing non-citizens to travel within Sol, but humans have the same rights now, to the pleasure of no shortage of people moving to Thessia."

He looked saddened for a moment. "Given that I was … entrusted this position by Baroness Shepard herself, I feel it is something of a duty, not merely a job. And I take my duty seriously – to protect human interests while keeping our connections to the Citadel, to safeguard our economic and political influence without generating rancor. Once we crush the geth, with the … collapse, shall we say, of the Batarian Hegemony, we have a chance at a true, long-lasting period of peaceful trade and prosperity – if and only if we don't withdraw into isolationism, racism and most of all shortsightedness."

Emily glanced at the camera. "If you have a few more minutes, I have a couple of questions from our viewers that I thought would be appropriate."

Udina's smile was sourly sardonic. "To quote the wit of Shepard herself...oh, this should be good."

Wong gave a faint smile at that and nodded. "The first question is from Jares Taltah, a power engineer from Arcturus. He would like to know what exactly the Council votes on and how it works."

Udina raised both eyebrows and emitted a sharp bark of laughter. "A good question, one I often find myself asking at particularly long Council meetings. In theory, there are two reasons for the Council to vote: resolutions and proposals. A resolution comes from one of the five committees after being approved by the committee. For example, the Committee on Economic Affairs might create a new law taxing eezo shipments, but it doesn't go to the Council until it passes at the committee level. Once it comes to us, there are days of open discussions with the ambassadors of each race, as well as technical experts. After the discussion there is usually a simple up/down vote."

He leaned back, picking at his slacks. "For most votes, a simple majority of three to two passes, but for anything that modifies the Treaty of Faraxen, the Bill of Sentient Rights, or the Citadel Charter, it must pass four to one. And to amend the Universal Laws requires unanimous votes. "

He gestured with his hand to the pad. "The second reasons, proposals, works pretty much like people submitting questions to your show. The Citadel gets many petitions every year – only a few are acted on, but anyone can submit one. How it reaches us is a convoluted mess, but the bottom line is usually it is brought to the Council's actual attention by a race's ambassador and is voted on from there."

Wong nodded. "Do you receive instructions on how to vote?"

Udina shrugged. "That depends. If it a highly complex issue involving legal or economic terms, I will consult my own staff, but on occasion the President has instructed me to vote one way or another. In theory, I answer only the President – in practice, a Councilor is not required to vote in lockstep with what he is being told."

Wong frowned. "So you can ignore the President?"

Udina smiled. "I can ignore the High Lords if I'm foolish enough to do so. For most votes the President and the High Lords realize I have more information than they do and tell me to vote for humanity's best long-term interests. Very rarely am I given a particular instruction set."

Wong tapped her padd. "The other question is from Cilrana Valeth, on Watson. She asks if the Alliance plans to press harder to open more immigration from the Asari Republic to the Alliance."

Udina shook his head. "This is sadly one of those issues where I said you give up what you would like to have for what you have to have. The Republic – and separately, the Thirty – made it clear that restricting immigration is one of the bedrock items they won't budge on, and to sweeten the deal they cut our purchase prices and taxes on obtaining optronics from them, as well as more assistance loans, grants and a crash joint research program on asari biotic core design with some of our own theoretical models."

Udina looked at the camera. "I'm sure that seems cold, both to asari living in the Alliance with family members still in the Republic and to asari watching this show wishing to immigrate. However, given how dependent our economy, sciences and political situation are on the asari we really had very little choice in our actions. I'm often left with a selection of sub-optimal choices to choose from, and the best I can do on some days is pick whatever options that do the least damage for the Alliance as a whole."

Wong nodded. "I know you are very busy, and we truly appreciate the time you've given us today. Any final words?"

Udina's face became thoughtful, then his expression hardened. "Yes. I do have a message of sorts, but not for your viewers." He turned to face the camera squarely. "For those of you who murdered a fine woman, a heroine, someone who despite being brutally used and cast out of our society rose to champion the defenseless and ascend to the ranks of the highest nobility … for the people, things or monsters who killed Sara Shepard. It may not be today, or next month, but eventually you will be found. And when the Alliance is done with you, even God Himself will be unable to save you from our never ending wrath."

"Repensum est canicula, profligate."


	5. Logain

_**A/N: **Logain's piece takes place roughly nineteen months after Shepard's death. _

* * *

_"A Commissar is a Sao Paulo Death Guardsman who never had the balls to put on the greens, brainwashed to think fire is funny and beatings are civil education. A Commandant, on the other hand, is a goddamned lunatic with the sort of hubris and swaggering evil you only see in comic book villains."  
_

_\- Henry Wade Redellion, 'My Way or You Can Go to Fucking Hell'  
_

* * *

_DOWNLOADING: Data feed, prime broadcast segment 714_

_Direct recording dump 1843-tertiary beta, classified rating [ALPHA] : COMMISSARIAT OVERRIDE : classified rating [REAPER-REL-CLEANSE]  
_

_This is an official Systems Alliance data capture dump, replication or rebroadcast is restricted._

_Recording begins:_

* * *

"Good evening. I'm Emily Wong, with Alliance News Network, and this is the Evening Talk." Wong's expression was grave, her dress somber – a black-panel jacket over a silken charcoal blouse and straight black slacks tucked into black leather slouch boots.

She took a deep breath and continued. "This has been a troubling time for all of the Alliance, no more so than today. The Alliance forces, in concert with Turian Hierarchy and Quarian Unity military units, have finally finished the brutal and hopefully back-breaking assault on the geth hub-world of Vindictrus. The casualties list published today tells a stark, cold tale."

She glanced down at the padd in her hands. "Twenty seven thousand Alliance marines, including brave General Tyercia Ross, have perished. Forty five thousand turians, including at least two hundred members of the Blackwatch who sacrificed their own lives to cover the Citadel Forces retreat in the battle of Yellow II Pass. Nine thousand quarians. Eight hundred plus members of the STG. Two thousand plus asari, including two war priestesses. And a devastating nine Council Spectres, including, of course, Spectre Jeremy Ross, who followed his wife into death by mere hours without even knowing she'd fallen in battle."

Wong looked back up. "The battles we have been fighting almost unceasingly for the past year and a half have cost us dearly – in blood, in rationing of certain wartime components, and most of all in the security of our borders. The amount of piracy in the outer segments of Citadel and Alliance space, not even looking at the Black or Silver Rim or the Attican, has tripled. Pirate and bandit attacks have sacked four Class I colonies in the past five months, the exhausted Mindoir battle group still reeling from the attack by so-called batarian separatists. The Batarian Emperor does not appear to care what his former subjects do, and to his credit, has blasted such forces out of space when his fleets find them."

She tilted her head. "But ultimately, viewers, many people are asking are we safer, or better defended, than we were at the end of the Benezia Incident? The loss of Spectre Ross, after the mysterious and brutal death of Baroness Sara Shepard, has many people questioning if the current administration is taking the wrong tack in working with the Citadel government in terms of fighting the geth."

"There have been multiple statements made by both the Alliance military and the Citadel Council. For those of you living safely in Sol, or on a class III colony, or for our alien viewers secure on powerfully protected worlds, these platitudes must seem comforting. Video of strong fleets and battalions of soldiers, mechs, and other military ordinance makes it seem as if we still stand strong."

She shook her head. "Yet, in reviewing the battle reports from the Geth War, the piracy reports, the shipping companies that have gone bankrupt from losses and most of all the news of entire colonies vanishing without any clues as to the perpetrator – one has to question if this feeling of security is just as false as the one we had in the early days of the Benezia Incident, before we nearly lost the galaxy to a madwoman."

She gave a smile. "This show is rarely, if ever, about my personal opinions or beliefs, unlike some other shows I can name. In the past year I've interviewed a wide cross section of personnel, from Admiral Ahern and Commodore Johanssen to dignitaries as high as Councilor Udina and the salaraian Dalatrass Muvai Solus. But answering the question of our safety is not something to be given to military men or diplomatic types, nor CEO's and the famous. Their answers will always be focused on the stability and quiet of society as a whole, rather than brutally honest facts."

"Instead, another view point is needed – one rarely consulted, and perhaps even feared. As part of the Alliance News Network's lineup of programs, we try to hew as closely as we can to a fair and balanced viewpoint that also can be taken at face value to correspond with the core virtues of the Systems Alliance. There are times, however, that an outside viewpoint – one that does not care if they are harshly criticized, or for the approval or disapproval of pundits – must be enlisted. As you might expect, the Alliance would prefer we not consult such viewpoints, and this interview request took months to setup and get approval for."

Her smile widened. "But freedom of the press is a wonderful thing, and the only thing the Evening Talk does is present you the viewpoints of those we interview. It is not for me to say one way or the other if the fears and worries of those on the frontier are accurate, only to provide a window into what is really going on out there. And while I do not agree with the viewpoint of our guest, his insights into what is happening out there are likely to be more direct – and shorn of any bias – than from any other source."

Wong turned to the haptic screen setup across from her. "Thus, tonight, we are interviewing one of the most famous, yet outspoken and controversial figures in human history : Colonel Kenneth Logain, First Colonist of Freedom's Progress, the descendant of the rebel and eventual exile from Alliance society, George Lincoln Logain. Thank you for joining us via telecast."

Logain's wintry features barely flexed into a smile. It was the smile of a man confident in his power: physical, mental, political, economic. His jawline was wide, taut and jutting, framing the thin, bloodless lips, the narrow beak of a nose, and the hard dark eyes under bushy graying brows that challenged whoever looked into them. His hair, a great leonine mane of gray and black, trailed down around his shoulders, setting off his hex-pattern military fatigues of old pre-Iron fashion. One collar bore a tarnished star, the other an ancient, gold-framed American flag pin.

Logain's voice was rough, firm and direct, with clipped syllables and the hard basso twang of the American deep south, yet leavened with an intellectuals deft pronunciation. "A pleasure to be visiting, so to speak, ma'am. I admit when your people contacted us about an interview I was … skeptical. And certainly not something I had expected from the _Alliance_ News Network. But given the topic, I can see your point of view – and your interest in my own."

The bitter smile widened a touch. "I'll try to be as direct as I can, without casting unneeded aspersions on your government."

Wong nodded. "Thank you, sir. Colonel Logain, there are more than a few Alliance citizens who have stated the pirate activity on the borders of our space is growing in power and danger. Seeing as you are seen as the shield of the wildcat colonies, do you agree with this assessment?"

The wintry smiled twitched. "As a rule, Miz Wong, I dislike the term 'wildcat'. It makes those who set out on their own to sound unprepared, chaotic, and childish. But I know you didn't call me up to hear political discourse, and what I think of the Alliance or the Council pales to irrelevance against the backdrop of what is happening out here."

He leaned back, rich wood paneling visible behind him. "The pirate situation is getting grim, that much is true. The pirates were once disorganized, ragged bands fighting each other almost as much as they raided colonies. The Corsair program was a godsend, and the first damned thing the Alliance has done right since that lunatic Victor conquered the world. The number of Q-ships – armed merchant vessels that at a quick scan don't look armed – also cut down on piracy."

He steepled his fingers. "The result was not, however, to reduce its _value_. While slaving is down and will continue to go down – without the Hegemony the markets don't have as many buyers – piracy is up like gangbusters. Stripping even civilian ships of optronics, omni-tech and hauled goods is a big part of the Terminus activity. When the Hegemony came apart a vast amount of military hardware and surplus batarian cruisers came into the piracy picture."

He sighed. "Unfortunately, the Corsairs and q-ships mostly killed off the stupid pirates, the nearly broke pirates, and the pirates with more greed than caution. The remainder – now battle hardened and with much better equipment – have been folded into the networks of the bigger pirate groups like Umlor, or signed on with Lady Aria's Alliance of the Fallen. And despite protests otherwise, more than a few of them signed on as combat mercs with volus merchants or with the Hanar, doing sweet God only knows what."

"Frankly, the amount of hardware Aria has under her command scares the crap out of me, and rumors she blew the holy hell out of a geth fleet last month should put a fine point on the fact the Fallen aren't a bunch rag-tag raiders. The pirates are getting bigger, bolder and a lot more competent every day, and we've had to fight them off from raiding human colonies twice this month alone."

Wong nodded. "The Alliance Naval Command has begun pulling back forces once assigned to far patrol to cover the Class I colonies more heavily, thus ending any form of protection extended to...ah, independent colonies, be they personal, religious or corporate. Has this emboldened the pirates, with rumors of entire colonies now being taken over?"

Logain's expression became troubled. "That is two different questions, sadly. I put about much faith in your fancy-ass high command as I do in a krogan scientist, and taking the half-ass battle groups and packs of lifer B-rates and sticking 'em on some godforsaken Class I populated by penals isn't going to do a lick of good. The EPSILON group's heaviest ships were light cruisers, and the Serrice Raptor Pirates out of the asari hinterlands are flying heavy cruisers. You can't have more than, what, forty, fifty thousand marines in the reserve outlying groups?"

His expression darkened. "Umlor alone has that many men under arms, not to mention enough ships to fight off Fifth Fleet. And compared to Lady Aria, Umlor is a pack of disorganized volus backing batarian thugs playing at soldier. You mark my words, you give the Terminus another year or two and you'll have a full out war on your hands."

He exhaled. "The missing colonies are … something else. Something darker." His eyes met the camera, dark and intense. "There's been literally no evidence of what took them. Defenses were hacked and not a shot was fired. Mechs were shutdown and all scans and video records wiped. All we found were drag marks, and on the first world a couple of dead asari."

"On the second world, with a higher asari population, the asari were alive but had been memory wiped somehow. Not a trace of the human colonists. Orbital defense station blown to slag by weapons we've never seen before, and not any sensor evidence of anything coming from or headed to the system. The mass relay didn't even show anything coming."

He squared his shoulders. "My people sent our evidence to the Court of Colonial Affairs and the Citadel Council and got the same damned answer from both of them – independent colonies are on their own. I don't think these worlds were hit by pirates, Miz Wong. Maybe it was geth...or _worse_ than geth."

"If I had the resources to investigate, I would. But frankly, just defending the wildcats against the known threats takes up all of Freedom's Progress' money, time, and people. The situation gets worse every day. Trade is down. The pirates are edging further and further into the trade lanes, and my take on the stupid geth war is that most of the human, turian and quarian fleets are too shot up to defend the trade lanes or even the goddamned borders. No one has time or energy to investigate mysterious missing colonies."

He spread his hands. "What am I supposed to take away from this? That the military is stupid, that they don't see the danger? No. But they discount both Aria and the pirate gangs as any serious threat to what they hold as important...and that they see the independent and free colonies as decoys and bait."

Wong leaned back. "Some have suggested the Alliance must know something since they put a moratorium on new colonization after the Benezia Incident, and several large corporations moved back into Alliance space. What are your thoughts on that?"

Logain rubbed his squared chin. "People will say a lot of things, ma'am. But sometimes they have a point. I think the Alliance doesn't want to tax the people sitting pretty in Sol to expand the fleet, since they have a pack of alien-hating Terra Firma lunatics in charge. More to the point, the fact that they're still not investing in the colonies enough means someone is leery of expanding too much. I don't think the Alliance knows much of anything going on out here, since they pulled the corsairs back for playing too rough, and I don't think they _want _to know either."

Wong arched an eyebrow. "You haven't stated your own theory yet, Colonel."

He gave a small chuckle. "I've got connections of my own, Miz Wong. People who've done us a good turn or two and would do so again if they could. The rumors I'm hearing … are not the sort of thing I should be spreading about. I'll say this: If you live on a border world, you are in grave danger – if not from Aria, or the pirates, then from whatever is out prowling in the dark between the stars."

His voice hardened. "The Council tried to keep what really happened during the Benezia Incident a secret, but enough bits and pieces have gotten out to let me know it wasn't just a crazy asari and her nutjob turian boyfriend trying to conquer the galaxy. It was a lot worse than that, and if not for that gal Shepard you lot and I would all be dead right now."

He gave an almost cruel smile. "Ask your masters about the _Reapers_, and see - see - **sekasdk**". The transmission glitched, deforming and scattering the words and video to garbled blocks.

Wong began to speak when she stopped and glanced off to one side. As she did so, the connection to Logain suddenly cut out. She frowned, and looked up again and stood up, staring at the black-armored Legionnaires flanking the thin Commandant standing in the studio entryway. She glanced to one side, where Henry Redellion was already stalking forward, face set in a tired grimace. His voice was rough. "We had clearance from COMMSEC and the Office of the – "

The Commandant raised a gloved hand. "This is a security matter, Mr. Redellion, that has nothing to do with the previous approved material. It's why we requested a delay. We killed the link because the matters that the rebel planned to speak of are highly classified and unfit for public consumption."

Redellion folded his arms. "So how is that different from _censorship, _which is supposedly - ha - not practiced in the Alliance?"

The Commandant's thin lips smiled, but it did not reach his utterly cold black eyes. "You fail to understand, citizen. This is not a decision made by the Commissariat. It is by executive order of the High Lords of Sol backstopped with a SPECTRE-level restriction by unanimous vote of the Citadel Council...and agreed to by the Hanar Ascendancy, and even informally by Aria. You may complain directly to the Court of Lords, if you truly wish to end your life in such a spectacular fashion."

He turned to the black-suited tech between the Lancers. "Scrub the systems. Isolate the signal, keep the signatures and wipe the databanks. The show went out on a twenty minute delay just in case something like this happened, so edit the final minutes with the software to suggest he simply ended the conversation, and mesh in Wong's transition to commercial."

He glanced at Wong. "When it's done, mesh it back into live and kill the delay. You can resume your normal show at that point, although I do caution you that should you attempt to reference or research anything along the lines of the rebel's last comment, every last employee of ANN and all family members will be broken to Z1 and chemically mindwiped, and you will be executed without trial."

He turned on a booted heel, and departed, the lancers staying behind as the tech got to work, hands on their power-mauls. Wong swallowed and turned to the editor. "...so...go on with the show?"

Redellion's fists clenched, but he nodded slowly, a thoughtful look on his face. "You hear him. Drop a segue into the omni-gel thing being a hot economic issue and don't take ANY calls. We'll pack up the emails and what not and send them off to the Black Hats to dick with. I'll be in my office, come see me when the segment is over."

* * *

On Freedom's Progress, the young tech working the comms relay frowned. "I can't get a signal through, Colonel. It isn't jammed, it's like the comm network isn't even recognizing our data."

Logain nodded, lifting a cigar and lighting it. "Hardly surprising. Didn't figure that would work. Go on and report to Captain Havraham, tell him that we need to monitor for incoming communications from the public."

She left, and he turned in his leather chair to the side of his desk, where he tapped the haptic controls there. The large view-screen in the wall blanked and then displayed a hexagonal logo for several seconds before clearing again, showing the silhouette of a man seated in a chair, smoking a cigarette. The faint illumination cast his features into shadow, but glowing blue circles gazed back at Logain. "Colonel, you rarely call me directly."

Logain exhaled. "I had an interesting opportunity to be broadcast out on Alliance News Network. Our last conversation came to mind when Wong asked me about the colony disappearances. When I mentioned Reapers, they gutted my signal. I'm guessing that struck a nerve?"

The Illusive Man nodded, picking up a half-empty glass of scotch and sipping. "I could say that was hardly a surprising result, considering the antipathy the Alliance has for you. But ... that confirms another one of my suspicions. The fact they would go to such lengths to even conceal the word in context of the colonies being taken is ... ominous."

Logain snorted. "My exact words. But I have names without context, a threat I can only vaguely point at. You've told me you know who is hitting us, but that you can't help us fight them off. Cerberus used to do just that. So why aren't you helping now?"

The Illusive Man sighed. "Because, Colonel, all of my resources are being expended to solve the problem in a permanent fashion. I do not have the sort of reach or power in physical military terms as I once had, before Cerberus was nearly destroyed, and I cannot afford to build up such right now - to come under the notice of the Council, or the Alliance, at this juncture would be lethal to my plans and most likely my life, as well as the last, best hope we have of stopping the things behind the raids. I have done what I can."

Logain rubbed his chin. "Money we already have...but the mechs your dealer set up for us will be useful. I just hope they can do the job. I'm going to see if I can't get quarian techs to upgrade everything, and drop a few million credits on a city-scale kinetic barrier dome." He glared. "But that doesn't answer the bigger question. What the hell ARE Reapers, and how are they connected to humans being kidnapped by the hundreds of thousands?"

The Illusive Man gave another, grave nod. "Probably wise choices, Colonel. As for the 'bigger' question...I have little proof besides snippets of video and scraps of data analysis, but the highest possibility is that your people - the independent colonies - are being targeted by Collectors."

Logain paled. "Collectors? Why?"

The Illusive Man puffed on the cigarette. "That is what I am trying to discover. Suffice it to say, the Reapers I spoke of are related to this, and to the geth, and the Benezia Incident. The danger is very real...real enough you may wish to consider abandoning your colony."

Logain stiffeened. "We'd rather die than run, you know that."

The Illusive Man's glowing blue eyes narrowed. "And you _will _die, if I am right. I've done what I can, cast what seeds I have left, and all I can do is hope you are not targeted. If my surmises are correct, the Collectors prefer softer targets than your world, but I do not know the extent of their power."

Logain puffed on his own cigar, and finally gave a gruff nod. "I'll...see about maybe moving some of the womenfolk and children out of here, if you have a safe place for them."

The shadowed figure nodded. "They have not hit any worlds with a small human population. Fethlethsan V is a free asari colony, mostly clanless, and doesn't associate with the Alliance and only loosely with the Citadel."

The colonel sneered. "I don't like the idea of my people being snared by blue sluts...but I don't have a lot of choices, do I?" He shook his head. "I'll be in touch when I have something I think you can use."

The signal cut abruptly, and Logain leaned back in his chair, sighing. "Some days, things wouldn't go right if you paid them."


	6. Dragunov

**A/N: **

_Well, the next chapter of TWCD is still giving me some issues, and I've had problems here at home over the weekend. To tide you over a bit, I went ahead and polished this already written up interview. _

_Dragunov's piece takes place immediately after the ruin of Horizon._

* * *

_"The biggest problem with high military officers is they think I actually give a shit about their insistence on protocol If you don't like the way I run my show, why in fuck would you agree to an interview? And if it was good enough for the Fleet Master, it should be good enough for you!"_

_\- Henry Wade Redellion, 'My Way or You Can Go to Fucking Hell'_

* * *

_DOWNLOADING: Data feed, prime broadcast segment 784_

_Direct recording dump 4149-tertiary beta, classified rating [THETA] : COMMISSARIAT OVERRIDE : classified rating [COLLECTOR-REVIEW-RESPONSE]. REL-AUTHORIZED, HLoS._

_This is an official Systems Alliance data capture dump, replication or rebroadcast is restricted._

_Recording begins:_

* * *

"Good evening. I'm Emily Wong, with Alliance News Network, and this is the Evening Talk." Her expressive face was set in a saddened expression, her cobalt blue jacket and pantsuit set off by a crème blouse and shoes.

"By now, most of you have seen the horrifying and saddening footage of the destruction of the former Alliance colony world of Horizon. It has only been in the past few hours that the Alliance High Command, working hand in hand with private merchants, several mercenary units that were on site, and Citadel relief teams, has been able to come to a conclusion as to casualties."

Wong shifted slightly, her dark eyes narrowing. "Based on the best reports we have at the moment, almost a quarter of a million Horizoners died either during the orbital bombardment of the surface or shortly thereafter, and a grand total of 366,403 people were evacuated from the world before ships had to withdraw. The system's sun underwent some sort of uncontrolled flare or demi-nova less than nineteen minutes after the last ship left the system."

Her voice was soft and solemn. "That puts the final death toll at roughly one million, seven hundred and eighty two thousand – the vast majority human, but over two hundred asari citizens were killed as well."

She looked up, at the camera directly. "The Alliance recently confirmed what footage bootlegged from emergency comm satellites or uploaded by panicked citizens has already implied – this was no attack by pirates or slavers. The mysterious beings known in legend as Collectors were behind the assault on Horizon and ultimately the complete destruction of an entire star system."

She gave a thin, wry smile. "While all sorts of rumors about the Collectors have long floated about the extranet, it appears the legend of their advanced technology was no myth. The Collector weapon that destroyed the sun is still based on unknown properties, but the University of Arcturus and the Reach Research Corporation have both proffered theories – but no defenses."

"It is suspected – based on evidence of the attack at Freedom's Progress, which the Council deliberately put out false information in regard to the perpetrators as to not tip their hand that they were investigating – that most if not all of the mysterious attacks on wildcat colonies in the past year and a half were also Collector attacks."

She turned to the tall, lanky figure sitting next to her. "In response to a request for further information, I am proud to have with us tonight the master and commander of all Alliance space forces, Fleet Master and Admiral of the Red Prince Ivan Dragunov, KoUE. Welcome, gracious lord."

Dragunov inclined his head, his leonine mane of hair shifting slightly. His sallow, hard features were set in a determinedly fixed smile, but his eyes were chips of icy coal, dark and unyielding. "The pleasure is being mine, madam. And please, there is no need for the Modes of Address – Admiral will do for conversing."

Wong nodded. "Thank you, Admiral. Before I begin, I understand you have a statement to make?"

He nodded. "Yes. Captain Jacen Delacor, Humanity's Spectre, has been upgraded from critical to serious but stable condition, as has his pilot, Li An. Both are to be awarded the Star of Terra for their magnificent resistance to the Collector fleet. While we are of course appreciative of other parties helping to defend the world – but if Delacor had not fought off the majority of the fleet with his tiny strike force, the entire would would have fallen."

His expression fell slightly. "That most of the brave men and women of Battle Group Chiron have given their lives in defiance of the odds against them is sorrowful. Our prayers are with their families."

She nodded. "Of course. The Alliance is coordinating relief efforts, but donations to both the Relief Fund for the Lost and a AllFund account for the refugees has been fasttracked to keyword : HORIZONHELP."

She adjusted her posture slightly, glancing down at her datapad, before looking up. "There have been many conflicting stories about the attack, as well as the presence of the ever mysterious Butcher. Rumors and conflicting stories are all over the extranet, and the video seen from the planet is often chaotic. Can you clarify, Admiral, what exactly happened?"

Dragunov's shoulders shifted as he leaned back. "Certainly I will. To the best of our knowledge, Captain Delacor was on the surface of the planet with the majority of his Marine unit, providing training to the local militia and assisting the Volus Defense Force with setting up GARDIAN towers on the surface. While the Alliance of course is not going to expend lives on protecting wildcat settlements, that does not mean we wish to leave them in the cold."

"Thus, the Alliance – working with the VDF – planned to upgrade the defenses of each wildcat world in the wake of what happened at Freedom's Progress. Delacor's scouts in space reported the arrival of unknown combatants. He immediately dispatched his ground forces to work with Horizon's own militia and the local Blue Suns mercenary group, then returned to his command ship, the SCV Kazan, to protect the world."

"The fight placed his units – one heavy cruiser, three destroyers and five frigates – against a force we roughly estimate at two heavy carriers, at least one superheavy cruiser, and upwards of fifteen destroyers. The fact that he was able to withstand this force and even inflict critical damage one of the carriers and destroy several enemy destroyers cannot be overstated as a proud moment for the Alliance."

He coughed. "At the same time, the Collector's dispatched a large ground force. This force attempted to kidnap humans immobilized by some kind of poorly understood weapon. From what data we've gathered, the Blue Suns mercenary group was able to hold off this weapons system, and Delacor's ground forces along with the militia held the Collector's back from the capital city."

He sighed. "The Collectors destroyed two cities from orbit, for reasons unknown. They were also responsible for destroying a smaller mining colony and an HE3 rig, adding another five thousand lives to what we owe them in revenge."

Wong nodded. "I see. Reports and video seem to show that eventually most of his task force was overwhelmed, until the Butcher arrived."

Dragunov nodded, almost unwillingly. "...yes. That is being true. The Butcher's ships engaged the Collectors with... almost unnatural zeal – she lost at least seven or eight frigate-class ships due to kamikaze attacks, and two more to point-blank torpedo salvos. The Butcher's heavier ships took out what we suspect was the command cruiser. The Butcher herself landed on the planet, accompanied by what appeared to be the turian vigilante Archangel from Omega, and proceeded to destroy nearly the entire landing force of Collectors in pitched combat."

He exhaled. "Unfortunately, once thwarted on land and in space, the Collector's apparently decided to destroy the entire system. We still do not know what methods they used to destabilize the star, but the results we have all seen."

He paused, then leaned forward. "I would like to give my thanks not only to the many brave men and women who risked life and future to rescue civilians, but also the many merchants, the Citadel Relief force, the volus merchants, and the Blue Suns Mercenary Group, who sacrificed seven million credits worth of war machines and vehicles to make room for a few more evacuees. The Alliance will be sending the Blue Suns re-compensation and a reward for such an action and will review further business opportunities in a better light."

Wong nodded. "And the Butcher? Did her ships also aid in the evacuation?"

His eyes narrowed. "No. They did not. Once the Collector's retreated, the Butcher's people took several corpses for examination, and towed away the damaged Collector carrier and several other disabled ships before simply vanishing. The Butcher's people on the ground seemed to indicate their vessels weren't prepared for refugees,but I have difficulty in finding this true."

Emily gave a weak smile. "Given the severity of this event, and how traumatic it must be for both survivors of the catastrophe as well as those who lost loved ones, how exactly does the Alliance and the Council plan to respond to this?"

Dragunov's bearing straightened, his eyes narrowing even further and his accent thickening very slightly with anger. "I cannot, of course, be speaking for the Council. I am however very sure of what my fleet will do to these animals – _destroy_ them utterly and completely. I am authorizing – with approval from Parliament and the President and sign off from the High Lords – re-mobilization of two million Marines and the refit and reactivation of fifty frigates, thirty destroyers, twenty two light cruisers and eleven heavy cruisers left in drydock since the Benezia Incident. Additionally, the newly created Sixth Fleet under Admiral Okuda will begin border patrol maneuvers with an eye toward rapid response to any sighting of Collector ships."

The interviewer arched an eyebrow, her voice laced with surprise. "That is not the usual operating procedure for our fleets, Admiral – "

He cut her off, with a slash of his hand in a diagonal motion. "I have heard the argueings already, Ms. Wong, of Blue Stars No More and those who dislike wildcat settlements. These beasts have committed a crime unthinkable. The fact that they prey on only the weak and unprotected today does not mean they will not come for the Alliance's own colonies tomorrow. I do not like the idea of my brave marines dying for worlds too stiff-necked to pay for their own defense, true. But I am liking even less the idea of alien monsters dragging off innocent humans to whatever hell these Collectors come from, for what certainly cannot be anything good."

Wong pursed her lips, and consulted the datapad in her hands. "There are also concerns about the Alliance's reaction to the Butcher – can you speak to that? Some in the Alliance are very supportive of her actions."

Dragunov relaxed, leaning back again, eyes languid. "She is a curiosity to be sure. But without her making contact and dispelling this...melodramatic secrecy... there is little the Alliance can officially do. From what little evidence we have it would certainly seem that she is an asari, most likely of the Thirty. We have no confirmation as to her real identity or goals, or her possible sponsors."

His voice became deadpan. "She is, at least, not a fan of the Collectors. While it may be a pointless gesture, we do appreciate her acts – and her own losses were heavy, so I must also admire the bravery and courage of her forces, whoever they may be."

The Asian woman gave a small grimace. "There are rumors saying she's backed by the Council, as some kind of super-Spectre, acting on things the Council cannot formally react to. The fact that she's now working with Archangel would seem to strengthen that theory. Can you comment on that?"

Dragunov's smile was sardonic. "Ms. Wong, if the Council wanted deniability, I think they have more options to choose from than a bloodthirsty lunatic with fixation on making home video of her smashing slavers to death. No, I am thinking this Butcher is something more complicated than that, although we cannot say for sure of any facts at this time."

Wong sighed. "There are also rumors that she's connected in some fashion with the Justicars – and other, darker rumors. Given that she's all but shut down slavery on the borders and assisted in fighting off these Collectors, what is the Alliance's official position on her... and any connections she may or may not have?"

Dragunov steepled his fingers together, his eyebrows drawing down, the hard angles of his face contracting as he grimaced. "Nuanced. Please understand, while Fleet Master is a position of... political maneuvering as well as strategic planning, many things are taken out of my hands – or never are put into my hands. Our official position is identical on paper to that of the Council – the Butcher is an unknown asari rogue agent with unknown backing and no known agenda. As I said while we appreciate her help, that does not necessarily mean we trust her."

He lowered his hands, then spread them. "In truth? We know nothing. We have no hints of who supports her, where she operates from or if she is indeed doing this for reasons good or bad. She has refused all contact attempts and does not respond even to direct demands from Queen Matriarch Thana T'Armal."

He suddenly grinned sardonically. "And I am doubting she is answering to Aria, or to Jona Sederis. So we have enigma. Inside mystery. Inside dangerous package. My own preference is not to be poking at something that can explode, Ms. Wong. In time, we shall see if she is what she claims."

Wong glanced down. "A few questions, then, from the extranet audience. Tyronis Vathur from Bekenstein is concerned about the Alliance's involvement on the borders. Given the wildcats refusal to join the SA, and the danger of fighting these Collectors, why is the SA even bothering to get involved?"

Dragunov's expression soured. "As I was mentioning before – these Collectors are animals. One does not let a rabid dog roam about the village, simply because it is not on your land. It is not that I do not have the same worries, reservations. I have sons in the Marines. A grand-daughter. Cousins. Nephews. I do not want to send them to die on some planet that looks down on the Alliance."

He leaned forward. "But these things, these... hell-creatures. They are not pirates. They are not slavers. This is not something we can ignore. Video is showing the husk creatures... like on Eden Prime. That is geth machinery. If they are working with geth – who murdered Shepard, killed Ross, nearly destroyed Eden Prime and Terra Nova – who conspired with Saren and Benezia to overthrow everything..."

He shrugged. "Old Russian saying: a wolf harries your neighbor today and you tomorrow. We could ignore. Pretend people are not being … husked. Or whatever worse happens to those taken. We could lie and say blowing up a star is not worth us being angry over. Is that what you want, as human being? As a person? Perhaps some can look themselves in the mirror. I did not like not reacting after Freedom's Progress, where we first realized what we faced. I like the idea less now."

She tapped her padd. "Another separate question from S'ana Urothain, an asari citizen of the Alliance on Watson. She asks what measures should people take to defend themselves from attack?"

Dragunov gave a sharp nod. "This is what we are knowing. The Collectors are two threats. One is small insect-like machines that inflict mechanical stasis on humans. They sting and kill or incapacitate other races. All colony towers and settlement domes with kinetic barriers are safe as long as the barrier remains up. If you are caught in open, asari and other biotics can generate a wide area barrier – it does not need to be strong – to hold the insects away. We rescued a few colonists in stasis bubble – it can be broken with a sharp application of shear biotic invocation."

He rubbed his chin. "The other threat – weapons – is harder to deal with. They use a very advanced energy rifle that ignores kinetic barrier or immediately overpowers it and melts through most armor. This is a beam – the more it is held on the target the stronger it becomes. Infantry Collectors can take out both gunships and medium tanks. Cover is not effective, only evasion."

He looked at the camera. "Best advise – asari citizens, spread out and protect humans and others. Fall back to secure shelters with kinetic barriers and sealed air and wait for marine relief teams. Do not, under any circumstance, go into combat yourself. You will die. Many died on Horizon. All died on Freedom's Progress."

Wong winced. "And if they are forced into combat anyway?"

He lifted his head, his leonine features hardening. "Then know we shall avenge you. If you must die, then die on your feet, defiant."

Wong leaned back. "A different kind of question, from a David Patriham on Mars. He asks what is the Alliance doing to deal with the slump in our merchant exports due to increased piracy levels in the Traverse and Black Rim?"

Dragunov gave a rueful smile. "I am wishing I had answer for that. Geth containment inside Veil Forward Area is still occupying most of Third and Fifth Fleet, as well as turian, salarian units. Black Rim piracy is being handled by salarian and volus task group. The Alliance has plans to rework the Corsair program at some length but we are still in refit cycle after the Battle of Haestrom – this is not a quick process."

He pursed his lips. "In the short term, we have considered hiring mercenary corporations to provide security outside of the Alliance borders. Longer term, we are probably going to have to shell out money for a Seventh fleet, specifically for border operations – Third Fleet is overextended."

Emily Wong smiled. "One final question – one of my own, actually. Given the reveal of the Collectors, has any diplomatic or corporate effort been made to reach out to the wildcat colonies to join the Alliance?"

Dragunov nodded stiffly. "It has. Going well, it has not been until this point, but that may now change. However, to be correct, that is more of a matter for the political operators, not my own purview. With Sixth Fleet we do have enough fleet elasticity to cover most of the wildcats. However, given the sheer power of the Collector ships, anything smaller than full battle group would simply be throwing away ships."

He folded his arms. "Given Traverse proximity to Aria, we are... hesitant to send large fleet elements that way. The volus VDF is sending several heavy cruisers and support ships to the region, and so are elcor and asari. I am hoping this, along with ground defense improvements we have made in few past months, will address this." He made a gesture with his hands as he unfolded his arms. "We are being very confident in ability of combined fleets to offer some protection."

His voice hardened. "But I am not going to lie. The ugly truth is I do not have so many ships as to hurl them into the dark of space, to protect all of the wildcats when we do not know what the next target is. Even if they were all Alliance members... that would still be truth. If those on the frontier want safety, getting off those worlds is best way to achieve it."

She nodded. "Any final words, Admiral?"

Dragunov inclined his head. "Only that it is imperative for us to remain strong. To stand fast in face of this … abomination. And to remember that we will not be cowed, or frightened into weakness. Tehy may destroy suns. They may wreck worlds. They will never break the iron that is our Alliance, and they will never break the holy lines of our defenders. Have faith, even in the face of darkness."

Wong's smile was brittle. "The face of darkness, indeed. Thank you for your time, Admiral Dragunov."


End file.
